To me there is something completely and satisfyingly restful in that stretch of sea and sand, sea and sand and sky- Complete peace and complete fulfillment. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
It is Labor Day Weekend and I have just arrived….. too late to book a charter ……they are all full but the stretch of beaches call to me. I miss my NJ beach diving, I had not gotten into the inlets this year like I am so used to. I missed the changing of seasons... It’s time to get back into the rhythm of diving for the sake of diving. A beach, a wreck, a cave, a spring….. Florida should have so much to offer if I just jump in.
I am headed for Venice Beach, just a short ride from my temporary digs. I stop at the shop at the bridge and rent a tank for the day and continue on to the beach and the group I am meeting. Once there, I am late and see only dive flags in the water and they all look alike and I have no way to know which is them. A group leaving the water informs me there are jellies in the water today so I throw on my 3ml and head for the surf.
I haven’t done this dive in 2 years but remember….swim out a couple hundred yards, drop down, look for black sand. The water is flat, lake flat. And warm, 88F warm. I walk out a bit, put on my fins and drop down to swim out. Visibility is around 7ft but this is usual for this area due to warm water algae blooms. I navigate using the ridges in the sand to keep me on course. Yes, l know how to do this! It doesn’t require a compass silly!
As I swim along I hit….. cement blocks? Covered in flowing brown algae. With fish. I don’t remember this, I like it but I don’t remember it. I head to the surface to see where I am. Right where I want to be and there are dive flags all around me. Very strange……. But not one to pass up a chance to poke I drop back down.
The blocks are around 3 feet square and dropped in a similar fashion to the jacks in Manasquan inlet. About 20-25 feet across in a long meandering line. In among the blocks I begin to peek about and several curious spade fish come out to see who is there. They are no longer curious and no longer about. There are white fish, almost clear in color and small bait fish with horizontal stripes. They are really quick. And grouper…. about 18 inches long. Picking up some shells I find hermit crabs of various sizes and tube worms in the sand. I come across some sand dollars and pick a few to take home. The occasional sheep head goes past and various corals and sponges dot the landscape and this is all very interesting….but where are the sharks teeth? The black sand denoting the underwater river bed? Where are my friends? I decide to head in and await their return and some answers and so I surface and begin to swim on in. As I approach the beach, I see the Bulla children frolicking in the water and as I turn I see a group swimming in and waving….. I have found them.
After a short SI we head out again. Apparently the state has been busy putting in an artificial reef…. Right on top of the riverbed! Unless we swim out much further to the next bed, the tooth hunting is slim.
Colin, Kris, Jenny and I swim back out and just beyond the blocks drop down to see if we can get luck at the edges of the bed. I am again greeted with the occasional fish in the open sand and jelly fish with long waving tentacles swim past. I am lucky to only watch them but Kris is not so lucky and gets stung. You can hear her yell even under water….Ouch!
I don’t find any teeth…. I find a petrified manatee rib, a prehistoric chicken bone, a fossil of a clam shell (really cool), and a rock in the shape of a tooth…. I am losing interest fast and off I go in search of things to poke.
There are tube worms to torture and small fish and a flounder hiding in the sand…..not anymore. A lone pink coral lies on its side and I pick it up and replant it in the sand. Small curious fish follow after me staying just out of reach, they are quick learners.
As I watch, a small sponge slowly moves across the sand. A bit fast to be moving in the current and I look closer. Do sponges have skinny little legs? I don’t think so…. I pick it up and it is a 2 fer. A large hermit crab in a shell covered in sponge. Sweet!
I have been cruising about sightseeing for over an hour and it is time to head back in and I move along picking up interesting shells for my bucket. Coming over the blocks there are more grouper and fish and I later learn I missed the 3foot ray swimming about.
We soon surface and swim back in talking about all we saw and what we found for the day. Colin picked up the top part of a meg tooth, the bottom part nowhere to be found. Jenny found a few small teeth as did Kris along with a beer can and abandoned inflator hose. Her sting has subsided and the day is full of sun and warmth as we talk about the new reef and the fish. Past finds and friends old and new. Divers are divers, Florida or NJ. A day in the water is always better than a day on land. I will keep at it. Who knows?
Thanks guys for a great day on the water and new friends.......
